In the movie, The Box, a couple receives a box, if they press the button in the box someone dies, but they get a million dollars. The family in this movie is struggling financially and has to make a decision. You can watch the movie to see what happens, but choices are made every day, and like vaccines, these choices may be deadly.

A choice every parent makes, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate their kids. There are pros and cons to everything but we usually end up picking the side with more pros, which I would argue with evidence it is more beneficial to vaccinate your kids. As a society we trust people to know their profession we trust construction workers to be able to do construction work, teacher to be able to teach, bankers to be able to count money, and doctors to figure out what’s wrong with us, so why in the debate of vaccines do we not trust scientists to know how to prevent diseases without hurting us more than the diseases? The answer to this is usually a result of bias.  We all have bias and we all want to think we know what’s best for the people around us, but sometimes we need a professional opinion.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective health investments in history.” — Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance[/perfectpullquote]

The creation of vaccines

Vaccines are created by scientists and medical professionals around the world and take 10-15 years to make until they are made available to the general public. There are three steps typically to make the vaccine. The first step is many years of research to find an antigen that can combat the disease. Once that antigen is found and cleared it has to be examined and passed by the FDA. Then the vaccine is tested on human volunteers to determine dosage and find any side effects. Even after the vaccine is made public it is very closely monitored, ensuring safe, and effective results. Scientists put a lot of work to ensure that vaccines are safe for public use and we should trust that with all the research and time they know what is best for us and our families.

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What is a vaccine?

While vaccines are supposed to help us and keep us healthy, blindly trusting someone to inject you with a chemical won’t go over well with everyone. The CDC Common substances found in vaccines include: 

• Aluminum gels or salts of aluminum which are added as adjuvants to help the vaccine stimulate a better response. Adjuvants help promote an earlier, more potent response, and more persistent immune response to the vaccine.
• Antibiotics which are added to some vaccines to prevent the growth of germs (bacteria) during production and storage of the vaccine. No vaccine produced in the United States contains penicillin.
• Egg protein is found in yellow fever and most influenza vaccines, which are prepared using chicken eggs. Ordinarily, persons who are able to eat eggs or egg products safely can receive these vaccines.
• Formaldehyde is used to inactivate bacterial products for toxoid vaccines, (these are vaccines that use an inactive bacterial toxin to produce immunity.) It is also used to kill unwanted viruses and bacteria that might contaminate the vaccine during production. Most formaldehyde is removed from the vaccine before it is packaged.
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and 2-phenoxyethanol which are used as stabilizers in a few vaccines to help the vaccine remain unchanged when the vaccine is exposed to heat, light, acidity, or humidity.
• Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to vials of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria

“The exhaustive amount of scientific evidence confirming that vaccines are safe should ease anyone’s concerns about how they’re made and tested.”- New York Department of Health

Reasons against vaccines

Concern

1/3 of the reasons why parents don’t vaccinate their kids is due to safety from concerns usually brought on by biases from not wanting to inject yourself with a foreign substance and guided by incorrect information from the people around you and social media. Using reliable sources and talking to your family physician will help guide you and help you learn the information and side effects brought on by the vaccines. This kind of summed up,  do you want your child to have a slight side effect or have a disease that can kill them. As a child myself I am happy my parents chose to vaccinate me so I don’t die from a disease that is preventable. 

Amanda Kanowitz Story

A 4 1/2-year-old girl from the upper east side of Manhattan became ill and her parents never imagined what would happen next. Her parents, days before noticed her mild fever and cough thinking it was nothing more than a typical virus. Although they were correct the flu is pretty typical it can be deadly without a vaccine. Only two days after contracting the flu Amanda’s parents found her dead. After their child’s unexpected death the Kanowitz’s created a foundation in her honor to make sure no other kid’s life ended so soon due to something so easily prevented.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 732,000 American children were saved from death and 322 million cases of childhood illnesses were prevented between 1994 and 2014 due to vaccination.” [/perfectpullquote]

Amanda died from a virus that could have been prevented with a vaccine. This is part of the choice parents makes, the chance of your child dying from a vaccine is a lot smaller margin than them dying from the virus or disease. Vaccines are proven safe with overwhelming research.  Amanda’s story is just one of many stories about how people die from not being vaccinated. All parents should vaccinate their kids.

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